Not Winning, But Fighting
by Lady Tol
Summary: AU: The Order is fighting a losing battle, but they are still trying. Oneshot during a single meeting. T for language.


A girl, possibly seventeen, was walking along the empty sidewalk of a somewhat dodgy neighborhood in London. The girl's worn trainers carried her to the corner and the young woman turned down and continued her walk. Not many would care about the welfare of this girl. She was obviously one of those teenagers that were always rebelling against the new regime.

But if someone had taken in more of her appearance, not like anyone would, they would have noticed a few things about the girl. Her eyes were darting all over the place and she was constantly looking over her shoulder. She also had her right hand shoved awkwardly shoved into her jumper's pocket. If anyone was paying attention they might have noticed how it was quite illogical how far her hand was shoved in. The pocket definitely didn't look that large from the outside did it?

At one point she pulled the hood of her jumper over her brown hair, but it did not keep her from constantly looking around. Suddenly another figure appeared from an alleyway in the same street as the young girl. For a split second, the girl's eyes widened in fear and surprise, but she quickly hid those emotions. Her right arm quickly moved out of her pocket more, and now it seemed more natural.

The other figure, now easily distinguished as a woman with long billowing robes, was hurrying over to the girl. Her hair was very dark and her eyes were heavily-lidded. Many people would cower from the look that her gray eyes, but the young girl did not.

"What are you doing out here, Muggle? Curfew ended an hour ago."

"I have permission papers m'am." The girl answered, pulling out some slips of paper from the back pocket of her jeans.

"Quickly now, give them over." She demanded impatiently, even though she already had the papers in her hands. Her eyes searched it quickly before handing them back to the young girl. "Emily Warren. Where are you going? It's not specified here."

"Well m'am, I'm heading to my friend's house. She's only a few blocks down. I'm staying there for a few days." Emily answered calmly, never taking her eyes off of the other woman.

"Where are your things?" The older woman asked. Emily only hesitated for a moment before answering smoothly:

"Took them there yesterday, m'am." The woman looked skeptical for a moment, but she gave the papers back to Emily.

"Hurry up then, you're only specified for another twenty minutes." She looked Emily up and down one last time, then turned on the spot and disappeared into thin air.

Emily was not remotely surprised by this, but she was obviously relieved by the disappearance of the woman. She quickened her steps and arrived at the house of her friend. Emily didn't even bother to knock on the door, which was in need of another coat of paint, but just went straight into the house.

"Bloody hell. I thought something happened to you." A girl, most likely the same age as Emily, came walking into the entryway.

"I'm probably only five minutes late."

"Exactly. And you've never been late before. And I heard that Lestrange was patrolling tonight."

"She was. That's why I was late. I ran into her."

"Are you serious? And she believed your story?" The girl asked him incredulously.

"Obviously, Lizzie, or I'd be in chains right now." The girl named Lizzie hugged Emily around the neck, as if the Lestrange woman would pop up any minute and take her away. "I know you wanna make sure I don't get taken away, but I kind of have to go."

"Oh right I'm sorry Lil– er – Emily." Lizzie responded, as if the name Emily sounded strange on her tongue. "Follow me."

Emily followed Lizzie down a set of steps and into a basement that was in need of a good scrubbing. Once they were both down, Lizzie closed a strangely placed door at the bottom on the stairs and locked it. Emily reached into her pocket, her arm going all the way in up to her elbow. She pulled out a thin piece of wood out. She looked around the basement and waved to Lizzie and turned on the spot, just like the woman in the street before, and disappeared.

With a crack, she materialized in an even shabbier basement than Lizzie's. A shrill voice sounded on her appearance.

"Lily Molly Potter! Why are you so late!?"

"Dear god mum, are you going to act like this every time I run into Bellatrix Lestrange?" he girl, whose name was now seemingly Lily, answered. She brought the piece of wood, her wand, up to the top of her head. Her hair changed from deep brown to red in a few seconds.

"Bellatrix?" Her mom said. It was more a question than a statement.

"Yep. Didn't even check my papers magically. Getting a bit lazy if you ask me." Lily answered, trying to act calmly. Her mother saw right through her act though, and she quickly ran over to her teenage daughter and enveloped her in a hug. Lily at first protested, but then returned it as well.

"Well I'm alright now. Come on mum, we have to get to the meeting. I got some pretty good stuff." Lily finally said, pushing her mother ff her gently in the process.

"You're right. Of course, let's go." Lily's mother, whose name was Ginny, said as she wiped a tear from her eye. The mother-daughter pair headed up a set of creaky steps and onto a dusty and dirty floor. They opened a door and entered a room filled with a group of people with serious expressions on their faces. All eyes moved from a sole piece of parchment on a long table.

The Order of the Phoenix, as this group was called, was much different since its reinstatement over twenty years ago in 1995. A set of twins was now in the seat of two members who had been executed because of an unfair bite. The woman with long white-blonde hair was in a spot once occupied by someone whose hair never stayed the same colour for very long, and the forgiven son could not take the place of his father.

"Ah Potter, you're back. What'd you get?" A heavily scarred man with a revolving blue eye and a wooden leg asked. The rest of the Order was also watching Lily intently.

"Nice to see you alive too, Mad-Eye." Lily responded merrily, taking a seat at one end of the table, with Ginny taking the one next to her. "I only risk my life everyday. Can't I get a, 'Thank goodness you're back Lily!'"

"So, find anything out?" Mad-Eye asked again, ignoring Lily's request.

"Yeah, hold on." She reached into her right pocket and pulled out rolls and rolls of parchment. She laid them out on the table and the group hungrily grabbed them up and began reading it.

"And I heard them talking about 'getting rid of that bloody mick.' They said it would be soon, but no dates."

"Guess we should move Seamus then. Anyone else that could refer to?" One of the twins, Fred Weasley, said.

"Not anyone who would be causing much trouble for them." Mad-Eye answered gruffly, one eye on one parchment and one on the other. "Ah well, we'll get a message out to him tonight. You up for it Potter?" Lily made to answer, but Ginny cut in before she could get a single word in.

"Absolutely not. She just retrieved all this information and she got cornered by Lestrange. She is not going out again."

"Calm down, Gin. I'll go Mad-Eye." Ron Weasley said to calm his younger sister down. He got out of his seat and headed out the door without a goodbye. The Order members didn't say goodbye anymore. It made them think that there was a possibility that someone wouldn't be coming back.

"God job, Potter. Looks like they found out the Taylor's are helping us out." A man named Diggle said, holding a parchment in the air. "We'll have to move them as well."

"Their location was perfect too. Oh well, we'll find somewhere else to put them." Ginny said with a sigh, shifting through a few rolls in front of her.

"Always happens though. Such high traffic through those ports. We have to be more careful."

Molly Weasley entered the room and took a seat next to one of her sons. "It's worth it though. We're still here, fighting. Not winning, but fighting."

* * *

A/N: I know this is a bit different from my usual stuff, but this has been in my head for awhile now. This is a one-shot for now, but if I get some time and inspiration, I might expand it. In here, Lily is an only child. I didn't name any of her cousins, but I didn't need them for this story. And in here, Harry's not dead, but he's disappeared. Lily was on a recon mission, trying to get as much info on the Death Eaters activities as she possibly could. Oh, and if you can guess the four people I mentioned died, good job. I don't really think I made it very hard to figure out. Hope everyone liked it!


End file.
